Mast Step redo for Briar Patch

On December 7, 2008 we pulled the mast on Briar Patch and put it on blocks in Nelson's Boatyard. After 20+ years of an aluminum mast sitting on a steel step in the salty bilge of an aging boat, electrolysis and other nasty natural elements took their toll. The mast step was in dire need of being refurbished. I have read of other similar Pearson 323 boats having the same problem, and that prompted me to take a keen look at what lurks beneath the floor in the bilge of Briar Patch. Owners of other P-323's had been so kind to post their experience in replacing the mast step, and refurbishing the mast. I took heed, took aim, and then took action to do the same.

After pulling the mast and examining the situation, we cut off about 2.5 inches of corroded mast from the bottom. I went to a machine shop (JV Lamar who does great work) in Gulf Shores and had him make a new mast step out of stainless steel. He then made a mast extension block that replaced the 2.5 inches that we had cut off the mast.

While the mast was out, we took the opportunity to sand and paint it to bring it back to like new looks. We primed all bare aluminum with zinc chromate, and then primed with Interlux primer.

We then put 2 coats of Interlux Brightside polyurathane paint for the finish. I talked with an Interlux engineer about our paint strategy for aluminum and he said we were on the mark.

Now all we have to do is tune the mast stays and shrouds, and set the sails.

Thanks to my friends and the professionals at Nelsons and JV Lamar machine shop for their help. Special thanks to a good young friend, Garrett Gozdur who helped me re-wire the mast lights before we set the mast and to Jim Jones who was the "roll" of the roll and tip painting process.

Click on the url below to see the before and after pictures. This yacht is ready to go sailing again!

http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/MastRefurbOnBriarPatch?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrBlK7Eson_xAE#

Gulf Shores, Alabama to Key West on Little Wing

On Feburary 16, 2009 we four guys, Steve Tedford, Mike Darden, Ken Rollins and I set sail from Gulf Shores, Alabama, to Pensacola Pass, to Clearwatrer FL, to Dry Tortugas, to Key West, to Marathon, FL in the Keys. We sailed on the fine 37 ft. yacht, Little Wing. Here is our story in pictorial form.

(click on url: http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/KeyWest22009?authkey=Gv1sRgCO_3wNG_t-i2fg#

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

March 17 thru March 27. Sailing on Little Wing, a beautiful Island Packet 370, owned and skippered by Steve Tedford of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Crewed by Mike Darden, Bob McDonald and Charlie Stewart. Sailed East from Gulf Shores to Port St. Joe, then to Apalachicola to wait on a weather window for the crossing. Sat two days in Apalach waiting for a storm system to pass, then sailed out on Thursday morning. Ran aground at low tide in the middle of the channel making our way across Apalach Bay to Government Cut which puts us into the Gulf. Finally we get out to sea in the safety of deep water, and set sail on a port beam reach, winds at 16 kts. Later that afternoon as the winds subsided, we put up the new cruising spinnaker for the first time on Little Wing. She was fabulous. That sail makes Little Wing at 12 tons sing and dance.

At dark we took the spinnaker down and went under jib and main. During the night winds picked up to 20 kts., and in the early morning hours, they piped up to 27kts. That made it a little choppy in the Gulf, but the boat was made for that sort of thing and never missed a beat. We, however, had to adapt. Our sail from Appalach to Marathon Key was 72 hours at sea. We made port at Marathon Marina, and had showers and electricity, cable hook-up and all the amenities of luxury. We then departed Marathon early the next morning on the Atlantic side and sailed North up Hawk Channel. Winds were from the NW and we were able to sail on a port reach all the way to Angelfish Cut, which is a channel we could take from the Atlantic to the Bay of Biscayne. Although the winds had picked up to about 18-20 kts from the North, we were able to anchor up for the night on the lee of Pumpkin Key to enjoy a beautiful sunset over Key Largo. The next morning we set out up the ICW for the 24 mile stretch to Miami. We anchored up in No Name Harbor for the night, and the next day sailed over to Dinner Key Marina which was our Miami destination.

See the pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/LittleWingGulfShoresToMiami

Tall Ships and Tall Buildings: Chicago 2007

Chicago; the city of tall ships and tall buildings. After our visit the last week of July, 2007, we learned it is also the city of great steakhouses, deep pan pizza, Cubs baseball and hotdogs at Wrigley field, and oddly enough, a city that hosts the "Houndstooth Bar", an Alabama Football Memorabilia restaurant/bar, right in the middle of Wriggleville.

Click here to see the Chicago weekend pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/TallShipsAndTallBuildingsChicago

Jimmy Jones, one of my old highschool buddies, and I re-acquainted with each other after way too many years, and to our surprise, we found out that we still had a lot in common. Our wives act like twins, we still love Alabama Football and Baseball, and Jimmy still has salt in his veins and a love for boating that I knew about even when we were in High School. Our first yacht was a mail-order canvas canoe kit that we built in highschool. We took our wives on a long weekend to Chicago and stayed in a quaint little vintage hotel, the Talbott (built in 1927) and since refurbished to a nice 4 star boutique hotel right in the middle of the shopping district on Rush Street and Delaware. It is one block from the magnificent mile on Michigan Avenue, and just blocks from Navy Pier. There we saw two of the City's tall ships, the Windy, a 148 foot four masted schooner, and the Windy II, a 148 foot barque rigg. I love the history of the old sailing ships!

Got the T-shirt

Below are a series of sailing T-shirts, mostly from the Dauphin Island Races. Recognize any of these?
http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/GotTheTShirt

Photo Album of Dauphin Island Race 2007

Click here for photo album aboard the Briar Patch in the 2007 Dauphin Island Race.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/DauphinIslandRace2007